Red Tent Temple Movement

Spread the Word and/or be there for this important next step.

A Blessed Mabon

These are a few of my sacred wares that I 'purchased' (we used silver stones, shells, and little treasures for currency) from our Children's Mabon Faire. This was the best holy-day I've ever had.

It was a gathering of old souls and new friends, us and our spirited children, totalling about 20 of us. A perfect small community. We started out with the faire, a sort of re-enactment of a harvest market. The children made crafts and goods to 'sell', all good enough for a real faire and all indicative of their creative niche. My daughter crocheted Medicine Pouches, enough for every attendee to get one. She also made stick sculptures Andy Goldsworthy style and sold out of every one except our favorite, a sort of Labrys, which perhaps was strategically placed out of sight. My son made killer lemonade which everyone adored and needed on such a perfect warm fall day. The little lemon candle you see in the photo was the side benefit of each person's order, and they later adorned our feast table like a hundred fireflies in a row.

More beautiful wares were made by my friends children, sweet catnip bags for the kitties, amazing mint tea and tussie mussies, beautiful herb sachets for our home, herbal tea bags ready to comfort on a chili fall night, exquisite handmade herbal bath salts and infused oil for the body. Delightful incense, after meal herbal kits, tennis balls with anise for our dog companions, Lego sculptures, and an incredible pirate ship built by our five year old engineer! Did I miss anything? There was such a plethora of creativity and beauty from these children it was a sight to behold.

My dear friend, whom I affectionately call Demeter, blessed us with an incredible meal. She cooked organic, local, free range steak which was absolute heaven and worth extra meal blessings. She made Chili with andouille sausage and a pinch of clove, fresh green salad, tomato and mozzarella salad, curry wild rice, fresh corn on the cob, and I am probably forgetting something because by that time I was totally intoxicated by the richness of the day. I only regret not taking many more photos.

My husband blessed our meal with a beautiful passage from one of our favorite books:



We join with the earth and with each other


To bring new life to the land

To restore the waters

To refresh the air



We join with the earth and with each other



To renew the forests

To care for the plants

To protect the creatures



We join with the earth and with each other



To celebrate the seas

To rejoice in the sunlight

To sing the song of the stars



We join with the earth and with each other



To recreate the human community

To promote justice and peace

To remember our children



We join with the earth and with each other



We join together as many and diverse expressions

of one loving memory: for the healing of the earth

and the renewal of all life.



-U.N. Environmental Sabbath Program



~~~~~~~~~

During supper, our engineer, also a deft storyteller, told us the story of Persephone and the story of Pandora. Couldn't have been better!

And one of our little sprites ...... lost a tooth! She got an extra medicine pouch for that! A tooth pouch!

Then we feasted on homemade apple crisp, ripe off the tree and baked with perfect love by my very own Pop. My Godfather/stepfather who blesses my life in countless ways and with unconditional love.

At the beginning of the day, we drew a child's name from a basket, assigning each child to an Elder for the day, not their own parent. The sacred crafts (a charcoal drawing and the making of dream pillows) were done together, acting as a meaningful activity through which we could better observe our child. Later during ceremony we shared the innate gifts of the children that we observed.

We wished into the wishing gourd that watered our gratitude flowers.

Ceremony was at twilight and even more members of the community showed up, our young adults. My Mother brought her most special smudge wand which she made at the Women's Herbal conference, and blessed all who entered the circle. We called in the directions with fervor around a blazing bonfire. We shared the gifts of the children, spoke on the meanings of the Equinox, drummed, planted our gratitude flowers and wishes, and celebrated.


And of course what I can't capture here in writing, are all the in between moments; of flushed cheeks, hugs, moments of eye contact, and sheer joy that pulsed through each of us on this sacred day of yin and yang meeting in balance. The sun shone warm all day and the moon rose with sharp brightness after ceremony. All hearts glowed with fullness. The children played contentedly.

And we brought home goodies.

Blue Beauty

Can someone please tell me what this little beauty is? I thought it was lobelia, but no, no sharp heat in the nostrils. It's mild and sweet, like a salad green. Stunning in the woods, hiding under the brush like a shy maiden!

back to school - wild school

Ahh yes. Back to teaching at the Wilderness school which I blogged about once before. An amazing place to be wild, free, and learn from all of Natures wonders first hand. I have the honor of teaching the Jr. Herbalist program, part of the Friday program for homeschoolers. I get 10 eager, magnificent, brilliant young minds to unleash into the plant world. I am grateful to this place, a gift in my life and my children's.

It's that time

...... to start making remedies. Folks are asking about congestion, sinuses, kid's colds, coughs, and the pending flu. I received an email for a lovely customer from 10 years ago, who has not been able to find a chest rub since that worked like mine :). How flattering! So of course I had to heed her request for more of my good old "Phlegm-Away". And I made extra for my own kids. How sweet the feeling to have something come around like that, to know that your remedies achieved some longevity, to know they were well received and remembered. I imagine how it might feel to watch it pass through a whole generation or two.

{Oh - and if any of you are actually curious enough to enlarge the picture only to be shocked by the words 'true wintergreen', don't worry. I don't even attempt to buy this anymore, it is actually a little bottle of real Wintergreen that I have been safely protecting for near twelve years now. Amazingly it smells as good as it did before. }

Divine Goo

I know this just looks like a plate of globby yuck. But if you could smell this divine goo you would see it through a different lens. This is freshly harvested Pine pitch, from my Aunties huge old pines in her back yard. The two trees were virtually gushing and I couldn't resist. This plate is only about 1/4 of what we got. We were sure to leave a coating on from each spot through, not to leave the tree raw.

The white powdery looking coat is where the sap had begun to dry out, the area where it was exposed to air. Th more mature the sap gets, the harder it gets. Some Red Pine sap that my son recently found was nearly hard, and not nearly as sticky. I'm guessing it was at least five years old. It takes a long time.

Usually what I like to do with the pitch is make smudge. I make little rolled balls and 'flour' it in Lavender or Rose powder. This helps keep it self-contained and keeps your fingers from gluing together. Plus it smells really sweet. When you have finished rolling them, lay them out on a wax-paper covered tray, indefinitely. If you jar them up you will have a jar full of melted sap and good luck getting it out. The little balls are easy to pick up and add to a hot rock or glowing ember to bless your home or ceremony. However, I don't recommend using it in your fireplace or wood stove. To easily remove the sap from fingers or floors or clothes, apply rubbing alcohol.

Another superb use for this wonderful gift of the trees is for splinters or slivers. Our beloved Kiva has dealt with this recently only with glass. Sucks it right out and keeps the infection at bay. A wound or cut in the woods is treated swiftly with an application of fresh pitch. Blisters can be helped when nothing else is around and you're mid-hike. Gum infections are also traditionally helped with sap - although I have to say it's not palatable. Natives also used it as glue and water sealer for their canoes.

Amazing stuff.

We'moon Date Book

Finally - this year I sprang for one. I've been coveting this incredible work of art forever and never got one. Then, last year, my close friend bought me an awesome calender and so I didn't need one.
This year I wasn't about to let it go ... so I ordered way early and got the early bird deal. Can I tell you how excited I am? SO excited! It has to be the most amazing, beautiful, moving, and empowering book to date. (pardon the pun) I love the poems, the art, the colors .....
mm. It's not '08 yet but I take it out to peek sometimes anyway.
To get one of your own (and you WILL want one) ..... go HERE and since the website does not do it justice, I may have to take a few photos of my own to post. (is that legal? probably not.)